Unexpected Empathy

John 13:34-35
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

Hope for Helima*

When Helima signed up to attend the RiverCross Summit, she expected to be equipped with the tools to better serve the vulnerable children she works with. What she did not expect was to uncover opportunities to build a bridge to freedom in her own family.

Throughout the Summit, Helima participated in conversations about abuse, neglect, and grief - all issues that were present in her own childhood. While Helima found has found healing in helping other children navigating similar experiences, she shared that her own brother went down the path of using drugs and alcohol to cope with his past trauma. He was recently admitted to the hospital for mental issues related to long term drug use. 

When she first heard this news, Helima felt powerless to help her brother's situation. But after working through the Bridge to Freedom training, Helima realized her brother was in need of the same trauma informed care she'd been trained in. 

Since the Summit, Helima has been using the BRIDGE principles to further process her own experience and develop empathy for her brother as she walks with him through his addiction and health struggles. She now feels not only equipped to speak into the lives of vulnerable children back home, but empowered to bring her own family with her across the bridge to freedom.

*Although the stories we share are true, some identifying details have been changed.